1 tory, including, it is said, the original correspondence of James I. with the Privy Council of Ireland for upwards of twelve years, with other historical documents, the value of which remains unknown. Shortly afterwards (in 1803) another British subject, the Rev. Samuel Preston, Rector of Chevening, in Kent, bequeathed his library of above two thousand five hundred volumes, many of them, it is stated, "very splendid works, selected with great taste and judgment." Mr. Preston, it appears, was an intimate friend of Benjamin West. In the following year John Bleakley, of Philadelphia, bequeathed a thousand pounds to the library, of which he had long been a director. At a subsequent period about 5,000 volumes were purchased on very favourable terms of James Cox, an artist, since deceased. Amongst these were many very valuable works on the fine arts, and many rarities. By these varied means, the Philadelphia Library, which, seventy years ago, contained but little more than 5000 volumes, has now grown to upwards of 60,000 volumes.2 Much to the honour of the Association, "citizens and strangers are permitted to consult the hooks without charge." The privilege of borrowing is of course restricted to shareholders and subscribers. "The number of persons who consult the library is," it is stated, 1 But for so many similar examples, the possession of State Papers of a date comparatively recent by a private person would excite suspicion as to the manner of their obtainment. Can this Mr. Henry Cox have been a descendant of the Irish Historian, and Lord Chancellor, Sir Richard Cox? 2 List of Books added, &c. April 1857, 11. Catalogue, &c., ut supra, xi. BOOK IV. Chapter II. Subscription Libraries of the United States. BOOK IV. Chapter II. Libraries of the "very considerable." A subscription has recently been entered upon with a view to the erection of a new and fire-proof building for this rapidly increasing collection. 2 Another Philadelphia Library-that of the AMERICAN [2] Library of PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY-is of considerable antiquity, Philosophical and now contains upwards of 20,000 volumes. The the American Society. 13.] Redwood Li brary at Newport. Society itself dates from 1742, was also founded by The Redwood Library, at Newport, Rhode Island, appears to rank next to the Philadelphia Libraries in point of date, though there is great difference between it and them in point of extent. But this collection is intrinsically more valuable than might be inferred from its smallness. Abraham Redwood, the founder, gave, in 1717, the sum of £500 for the purchase of standard books in London. A sum of £5000 was speedily subscribed by the citizens for the erection of a building to receive them (to which sum was ultimately added £1200 more), and a site was freely presented by Mr. Henry Collins. In its very infancy the Redwood Li 3 3 Catalogue of the Redwood Library, 1843, Preface. (Quoted by Jewett, 48, 49.) BOOK IV. Chapter II. Libraries of the brary had the distinction of attracting to Newport the Rez. Ezra Stiles, who for so many years elevated the Subscription town and Colony by his learning and his public spirit, and of whom Channing has said, that in his early years he regarded no human being with equal reverence.' Mr. Stiles was long Librarian, and was the means of adding to the collection many works of great value. Here, as elsewhere, the Revolutionary war interrupted the peaceful pursuits of literature; but here, too, an enlightened public opinion saw in the transient evil the seeds of permanent good, and was patient. The Library suffered more from the perils of the time than some others; and when these were over its progress met with a check in the death of the founder. Of late years, a revived interest has been evinced in its growth and usefulness, but it does not yet number 5000 volumes. Society Library. The Library of the NEW YORK SOCIETY dates from 1754, when (according to Smith's History of New York) (4.1 New York "a set of gentlemen undertook a subscription towards raising a public library, and in a few days collected nearly £600, which were laid out in purchasing 700 volumes of new well-chosen books." They subsequently obtained what remained of a Public City Library,” which had been established more than half a century 1 Christian Worship: a Discourse at Newport, R. I, 27 July 1836 (Works, ii, 207). In this discourse Dr. Channing speaks of the Redwood Library as "yonder beautiful edifice, now so frequented and so useful as a Public Library, but once so deserted that I spent day after day, and sometimes week after week, amidst its dusty volumes without interruption from a single visitor." BOOK IV. Chapter II. Libraries of the United States. before, but had fallen into a neglected and dilapidated Subscription condition. In 1772, the Society was incorporated. During the occupation by the British troops, this Library seems to have suffered more injury than was sustained by similar institutions in most of the other occupied towns. John Pintard (of whom mention will be made hereafter, in connection with the "Historical Society of New York") affirmed, as an eye-witness, "that the British soldiers were in the habit of carrying away the books in their knapsacks, and bartering them for grog." In 1788, however, vigorous exertions appear to have been made for the recovery, augmentation, and improvement of the collection. Originally located in the City Hall, this Library has had the singular fortune of occupying within sixty years three new buildings, each of them expressly erected for its reception. Its temporary abodes included, it has, within little more than that period of time, had six different habitations. The moving cause is not explicitly stated, but would seem to have been the rapid increase in the value of sites favourable to commerce. In 1795, when removed to its first new building, it contained about five thousand volumes. When transferred to its second, in 1840, it had grown to about 27,000 volumes. At the date of its latest change of abode, it possessed somewhat more than 40,000 volumes. If we may judge from the spirited address which was delivered before the shareholders in February, 1856, by its able Librarian, Mr. Mac Mullen, "on the past, the present, and the future of the New York Society Library," it is now on the threshold of a new and energetic career of usefulness. BOOK IV. Chapter II. Subscription Libraries of the Amongst the minor collections which, from time to United States. time, have merged into that of the Society Library, two merit special mention. The one was the gift (indirectly) of an English clergyman; the other, that of the descendant and representative of John Winthrop, the founder of Connecticut. In 1729, Dr. Millington, Rector of Newington, bequeathed his library to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, by whom it was presented to the Corporation of New York, "for the use of the clergy and gentlemen of New York, and the neighbouring provinces." The Winthrop Collection consists of 275 volumes, and was presented in 1812. Of its worth as an illustration of American history-apart from all other value-not a word need be said. A good catalogue of the entire Library was published in 1850.1 ciety of Charleston. Eight years after the foundation of the Redwood Library in Rhode Island, and almost contemporaneously with the establishment of the New York Society, a few [5] Library Soyoung citizens of South Carolina formed themselves into a "Library Society" at Charleston. Backed by larger means they had, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, not only amassed upwards of 5000 volumes (rich in classical literature), but had gathered a fund of £20,000, with a view to the "establishment of an institution for education in connection with their Mac Mullen, Lecture, &c., ubi supra (1856) passim; Smith, History of New York, [under the year 1754]; Jewett, Notices, &c., 86-88. |